Carolyn Burke – författare

_______________________THE FIRST FULL-LENGTH BIOGRAPHY OF LEGENDARY PHOTOGRAPHER LEE MILLER_______________________‘Lee Miller was an astounding woman, brought memorably to life in this astounding book' - Daily Telegraph‘Does its perplexingly complicated subject more than justice, adding welcome depths and nuances to the familiar legend' - Sunday Times'A serious and gripping biography from Carolyn Burke' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent_______________________Lee Miller was one of the most extraordinary photographers of the twentieth century, famous for her portraits and devastating photographs of World War Two, as well as for her legendary beauty. An art student and a Vogue model, she was a close friend of artists such as Picasso, Cocteau, Max Ernst and Paul Eluard, and became a muse of Man Ray and the Parisian surrealists. One of the few female photographers to enter Hitler's Germany, she was the first to access his Munich home and among the first to document the liberation of the concentration camps. Carolyn Burke captures Lee Miller in all her complexity, unveiling the glittering art world of the thirties and forties of which she was a central figure. Meticulously researched, beautifully written, this is an enthralling account of one of the most fascinating women of her era.

Engaging with Irigaray is the first collection of essays that attempts to go beyond the question of essentialism in order to provide a full critical assessment of Irigaray's contribution to a number of fields, notably philosophy. By reconsidering Irigaray's writings in the field of European thought and politics in which she positions herself, the authors of these essays--among them Judith Butler, Elizabeth Weed, and Rosi Braidotti--shed new light on the relationship of Irigaray to many of the philosophers she has "romanced," from Aristotle to Deleuze. This collection of essays will be invaluable to readers interested both in continental feminism and the intellectual engagement of an international group of scholars grappling with the issues of gender difference, sexuality, and women's politics between women and with men.

The iconic French singer comes to life in this enthralling, definitive biography, which captures Edith Piaf’s immense charisma along with the time and place that gave rise to her unprecedented international career.Raised by turns in a brothel, a circus caravan, and a working-class Paris neighborhood, Piaf began singing on the city’s streets, where she was discovered by a Champs-Elysées cabaret owner. She became a star almost overnight, seducing Paris’s elite and the people of its slums in equal measure with her powerful, passionate voice. No Regrets explores her rise to fame and notoriety, her tumultuous love affairs, and her struggles with drugs, alcohol, and illness, while also drawing on new sources to enhance our knowledge of little-known aspects of her life. Piaf was an unlikely student of poetry and philosophy, who aided Resistance efforts in World War II, wrote the lyrics for nearly one hundred songs (including “La Vie en rose”) and was a crucial mentor to younger singers (including Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour) who absorbed her love of chanson and her exacting approach to their métier.Here is Piaf in her own world—Paris in the first half of the twentieth century—and in ours. Burke demonstrates how, with her courage, her incomparable art, and her universal appeal, “the little sparrow” endures as a symbol of France and a source of inspiration to entertainers worldwide.From the Hardcover edition.

A trenchant yet sympathetic portrait of Lee Miller, one of the iconic faces and careers of the twentieth century. Carolyn Burke reveals Miller as a multifaceted woman: both model and photographer, muse and reporter, sexual adventurer and mother, and, in later years, gourmet cook—the last of the many dramatic transformations she underwent during her lifetime. A sleek blond bombshell, Miller was part of a glamorous circle in New York and Paris in the 1920s and 1930s as a leading Vogue model, close to Edward Steichen, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau, and Pablo Picasso. Then, during World War II, she became a war correspondent—one of the first women to do so—shooting harrowing images of a devastated Europe, entering Dachau with the Allied troops, posing in Hitler’s bathtub. Burke examines Miller’s troubled personal life, from the unsettling photo sessions during which Miller, both as a child and as a young woman, posed nude for her father, to her crucial affair with artist-photographer Man Ray, to her unconventional marriages. And through Miller’s body of work, Burke explores the photographer’s journey from object to subject; her eye for form, pattern, and light; and the powerful emotion behind each of her images.A lushly illustrated story of art and beauty, sex and power, Modernism and Surrealism, independence and collaboration, Lee Miller: A Life is an astute study of a fascinating, yet enigmatic, cultural figure.From the Hardcover edition.

A captivating, spirited account of the intense relationship among four artists whose strong personalities, passionate feelings, and aesthetic ideals drew them together, pulled them apart, and profoundly influenced the very shape of twentieth-century art.New York, 1921: Alfred Stieglitz, the most influential figure in early twentieth-century photography, celebrates the success of his latest exhibition--the centerpiece, a series of nude portraits of the young Georgia O''Keeffe, soon to be his wife. It is a turning point for O''Keeffe, poised to make her entrance into the art scene--and for Rebecca Salsbury, the fiancée of Stieglitz''s protégé at the time, Paul Strand. When Strand introduces Salsbury to Stieglitz and O''Keeffe, it is the first moment of a bond between the two couples that will last more than a decade and reverberate throughout their lives. In the years that followed, O''Keeffe and Stieglitz became the preeminent couple in American modern art, spurring each other''s creativity. Observing their relationship led Salsbury to encourage new artistic possibilities for Strand and to rethink her own potential as an artist. In fact, it was Salsbury, the least known of the four, who was the main thread that wove the two couples'' lives together. Carolyn Burke mines the correspondence of the foursome to reveal how each inspired, provoked, and unsettled the others while pursuing seminal modes of artistic innovation. The result is a surprising, illuminating portrait of four extraordinary figures.

__________________________A FASCINATING BIOGRAPHY OF SINGING LEGEND EDITH PIAF__________________________‘This engaging life of the diminutive French singer makes you appreciate anew what a magician she was' - Sunday Times‘Fascinating ... Burke vividly depicts the rollercoaster of Piaf's life' - Mail on Sunday'Concise and compelling ... poised, persuasive and powerful - like the sparrow herself' - Daily Telegraph'A clear-eyed portrait of an unflinching artist' - New Statesman__________________________Edith Piaf was one of the most greatly loved singers of the twentieth century. From the start of her exceptional career in the 1930s, her waif-like form and heart-wrenching voice endeared her first to the French, then to audiences around the globe. As she moved from her youth singing in the streets to the glamour of the Paris music-halls, Piaf formed lasting friendships with such figures as Maurice Chevalier, Jean Cocteau and Marlene Dietrich; she wrote many of her own songs, aided the Resistance in the Second World War, and mentored younger singers like Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. Yet her path to stardom was full of tragedies - the death of her daughter in infancy; the death of Marcel Cerdan, her greatest love, in a plane crash; her many illnesses, affairs and addictions, all of which nourished her passionate performances and strengthened her enduring bond with audiences. In this mesmerising, definitive new biography Carolyn Burke gives us Piaf in her own time and place, illuminating through sympathetic readings of sources hitherto unavailable both the charm and the pathos of the ‘Little Sparrow' who enchanted generations and still enthralls us today.

__________________________A FASCINATING BIOGRAPHY OF SINGING LEGEND EDITH PIAF__________________________''This engaging life of the diminutive French singer makes you appreciate anew what a magician she was'' - Sunday Times''Fascinating ... Burke vividly depicts the rollercoaster of Piaf''s life'' - Mail on Sunday''Concise and compelling ... poised, persuasive and powerful - like the sparrow herself'' - Daily Telegraph''A clear-eyed portrait of an unflinching artist'' - New Statesman__________________________Edith Piaf was one of the most greatly loved singers of the twentieth century. From the start of her exceptional career in the 1930s, her waif-like form and heart-wrenching voice endeared her first to the French, then to audiences around the globe. As she moved from her youth singing in the streets to the glamour of the Paris music-halls, Piaf formed lasting friendships with such figures as Maurice Chevalier, Jean Cocteau and Marlene Dietrich; she wrote many of her own songs, aided the Resistance in the Second World War, and mentored younger singers like Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. Yet her path to stardom was full of tragedies - the death of her daughter in infancy; the death of Marcel Cerdan, her greatest love, in a plane crash; her many illnesses, affairs and addictions, all of which nourished her passionate performances and strengthened her enduring bond with audiences. In this mesmerising, definitive new biography Carolyn Burke gives us Piaf in her own time and place, illuminating through sympathetic readings of sources hitherto unavailable both the charm and the pathos of the ''Little Sparrow'' who enchanted generations and still enthralls us today.

“Sympathetic . . . captivating . . . highly effective.” —Graham Robb, New York Review of Books “Concise and gracefully written. . . . Burke surveys all [Piaf''s] mayhem with thoughtfulness and respect.” —James Gavin, New York Times Book Review The iconic French singer comes to life in this enthralling, definitive biography, which captures Edith Piaf''s immense charisma along with the time and place that gave rise to her unprecedented international career. Raised by turns in a brothel, a circus caravan, and a working-class Parisian neighborhood, Piaf began singing on the city''s streets, where she was discovered by a Champs-Elysees cabaret owner. She became a star almost overnight, seducing Paris''s elite and the people of its slums in equal measure with her powerful, passionate voice. No Regrets explores her rise to fame and notoriety, her tumultuous love affairs, and her struggles with drugs, alcohol, and illness, while also drawing on new sources to enhance our knowledge of little-known aspects of her life. Burke demonstrates how, with her courage, her incomparable art, and her universal appeal, "the little sparrow" endures as a symbol of France and a source of inspiration to entertainers worldwide. Carolyn Burke is the author of Lee Miller: A Life and Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy. She has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Davis and at universities in France and Australia, where she was born. She now lives in California.